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Selected between 2020 and 2024, the 37 works in artist Dang Duong Bang's "Nocturne" collection are the tranquil sounds of a moonlit night, allowing us to hear the chirping of dragonflies. They could also be melodies that transport us back to childhood or love songs that evoke memories of a loved one.
Speaking about Nocturne (The Magical Night Melody - 2024), artist Dang Duong Bang shared: “I began my painting career in 1974 as a member of the Hanoi Fine Arts Association. After exactly 50 years, Nocturne is my tribute to Hanoi, my beloved homeland, an image that always resides in my heart, in my dreams, and in every brushstroke of my sleepless nights.”
Nocturne is the artist's first exhibition in his hometown of Hanoi after nearly four decades of living and working in Europe.
This "Nocturne" exhibition also marks the launch of a memoir about the life and art of Dang Duong Bang. "Thirteen Memories," a memoir (in Vietnamese and English) presented as an artbook, encapsulates the portrait of this elegant artist from old Hanoi. A man who lived in exile for nearly half his life, yet still retained twelve seasons to remember and love Hanoi, and the remaining season to explore and enrich his love for art and life.
Inspired by the enchanting melodies of the night, the 37 works in the 2024 "Nocturne" exhibition mark half a century of painting by artist Dang Duong Bang.
Artist Dang Duong Bang is the nephew of the renowned painter Nguyen Tien Chung and studied painting with artist Pham Viet Song. His paintings subtly reflect the gentle imagery of boats and moonlight, reminiscent of artists from the Indochina School of Fine Arts. Dang Duong Bang (1951) is currently a Professor of Nanotechnology in Food Safety at the Polytechnic University of Denmark. However, he is better known to the public and art lovers in Europe as an artist, "a skillful bridge between tradition and modernity in contemporary Vietnamese art."
Hanoi, flowers, and women frequently appear in the paintings of this male artist.
For Dang Duong Bang, teaching and painting are two distinct and incomparable professions. He works in science during the day and paints at night. These two seemingly unrelated activities bring him happiness. If painting is a lifeline that helps him overcome the stress of his research, then science provides him with new ways of approaching problems in his art. Dang Duong Bang always uses the mindset of a scientist to innovate art through experimentation, research, and new approaches to problem-solving. “Painting is how I calm my mind, relieve stress, and regain balance in my life. Painting is how I make up for my homesickness. Painting is also how I confront myself, purify myself, and cleanse myself of distracting thoughts. After painting, I sleep soundly because painting gives me beautiful dreams.”
Reporter: Your paintings often explore the beauty of ordinary moments. Could you share some specific experiences that inspired the works in this exhibition?
Dang Duong Bang:I believe life is more beautiful when we see beauty in the simplest things, and artists help people realize this through their art. For me, a beautiful life is made up of many beautiful moments, and when we cherish them for a long time. Ideas might come to me during a changing season, when the weather turns cold or it rains, or perhaps a song by Phu Quang or Trinh Cong Son about Hanoi, or maybe a strange dream…
However, depicting beauty from ordinary, everyday moments has never been easy in painting. The greatest challenge for an artist is to portray something familiar in a unique artistic language, making those moments distinctive and immortal.
Artist Dang Duong Bang said: "The ego is extremely important in painting."
PV: Why do Hanoi, flowers, women, and cats frequently appear in your paintings? What personal significance do these themes hold for you?
Dang Duong Bang:I paint to relieve my homesickness, my Hanoi, my longing for my mother and her Siamese cat—these are the most comforting memories that soothe me. The beauty of a woman in an ao dai always makes me think of my mother, and the "cat" is me, nestled in my mother's arms.
PV: You use a variety of materials, from oil paint to recycled paper. What led you to choose these materials for the exhibition, and how do they contribute to the message of the artwork?
Dang Duong Bang:I believe that "self" is extremely important in painting. "Self" is the unique style that allows the audience to recognize the distinct "voice" of an artist among thousands. The way I "play" with different materials is also a way of finding my own self in art.
With the mindset of a scientific researcher, I always enjoy experimenting to discover new things. While living in Europe, I didn't have the opportunity to create traditional lacquer paintings. I experimented with lacquer on new materials such as newspaper and canvas mounted on newspaper. After painting many vibrant works, or using expensive materials like gold leaf, I wanted to challenge myself with minimalism.
With the mindset of a scientist, I enjoy proving that beauty can come from seemingly cheap or discarded things. I love drawing on train tickets while traveling. I see the warm beauty in the packaging of pizza boxes, or the brown paper wrapping breakfast bread. I see beautiful memories on napkins, chocolate wrappers from a joyful party, concert tickets from a place filled with memories. The creativity of an artist lies not only in finding beauty in luxurious materials but also in recognizing the beauty in the simplest things, and, more miraculously, in giving new life to things that seem destined for the trash.
PV: Many of your works are in the collections of famous figures such as Elton John and Bill Gates' Gates Foundation. How has this recognition influenced your approach to art?
Dang Duong Bang:My job is painting, and the sale of my paintings is handled by galleries. The painting owned by Elton Johb is part of the "The Beau and the Beast" series, part of a charity auction supporting AIDS patients at Gallery Attitude, London (2012). The collection of three paintings of lotuses and dragonflies, part of the "The Sounds of Silence" series, were exhibited in New York to support the Gate Foundation's charity work (2010).
For me, all my art lovers bring me joy, whether they are celebrities or ordinary art enthusiasts. However, what makes me happiest is when my paintings are purchased by celebrities at charity art events. It's not just recognition; more importantly, it means my art is helping people in need around the world.
PV: Can you explain the significance of using crumpled newspaper as a medium in some of your paintings? How does this medium affect how viewers perceive the artwork?
Dang Duong Bang:As mentioned above, I see history and events in daily newspapers. When I draw on newspaper, I find its beauty in its uniqueness. I usually don't cover the entire newspaper with color or gold/silver; I leave a part of it exposed. That's the enduring life of an old newspaper, used to create art.
Environmental protection and recycling are global trends, especially in Europe. These trends of creating products from reduced consumer spending, or giving value to old items, are the foundation for new products, and painting, as an artist, is no exception to this trend.
The beauty in crumpled artworks comes from the memory I witnessed when Mr. Phai would discard or burn paintings he wasn't satisfied with. When I visited his house in Hanoi, I secretly kept those sketches, smoothed them out, and after some time, returned them to him. I said, "Maybe someday you'll find them beautiful again, so don't throw them away so quickly." And indeed, I saw the material and life in those crumpled, even stained and erased works. It's like the wrinkles on a person's face. If we love, we love even those wrinkles.
This "Nocturne" exhibition also marks the launch of a memoir about the life and art of Dang Duong Bang.
PV: How have experiences of loneliness and homesickness influenced your art?
Dang Duong Bang:I've lived away from my homeland for almost 40 years, so life in Denmark has become almost too familiar and is like my second home. I miss home, my mother, my friends, the Vietnamese language, and the loneliness of this cold, vast, sparsely populated country with its gray, snowy winters. Even during Tet (Vietnamese New Year), when I long for the warmth of family, everything continues as usual. But once I've gotten used to this life, I find happiness in experiencing beautiful sadness. Thinking about my mother and Hanoi might bring tears to my eyes, but these are always the most beautiful, warmest emotions to cry about.
The "Nocturne" exhibition will take place from October 24th to November 10th at 55 Van Mieu Street, Dong Da District, Hanoi.
Additional information:
Living and working in Leiden (Netherlands) since 1990 and settling in Copenhagen (Denmark) since 1999, Dang Duong Bang has had 40 solo exhibitions in Copenhagen, Paris, Amsterdam, Leiden, London, New York, Tokyo, Seoul, Melbourne, and more. Over 3,000 works have been created and belong to private collections in Denmark, England, France, the Netherlands, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, Thailand, Hong Kong, Australia, Canada, and the United States. Many of his works are in the collections of famous artists such as Elton John, or are displayed in public spaces such as the Gates Foundation (New York), the University of Copenhagen (Denmark), Odense University (Denmark), Den Danske Bank (Denmark), and the BRK Lyngby Art Foundation (Denmark). In 2019, his first solo exhibition in Vietnam, "Dream Harbor," was held in Ho Chi Minh City and achieved record-breaking sales. All 55 works will be on display over four weeks.
